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Shadow kicked the head off the robot. It throbbed his foot, like all the bones there shattered on impact. But he could still walk, he could still move through the enemies, he could still breathe. He shot another one, hitting it straight in its chest. The collision slung it towards another group of Eggpawns, marking a strike as they all tumbled down.
Shadow skated past them, loading his firearm. He grunted when his hand could barely feel a dozen of ammunition left in his quills. His eyes swept the area, ears twitching in every direction, nose sniffling for any smell. All the clear clanking of footsteps against metal ground now drowned, faint and echoing everywhere. Oil and rust and steam permuted the air, indistinguishable from the robots’ scent. His foot still throbbed when he leaned on it, his jackrabbit heart pulsing against his air shoe.
Everything was muted.
His eyesight could barely notice the whereabouts of Eggpawns if they didn’t step in his periphery vision. Doors only appeared in less than a hundred metres away, pipes that slithered around the base stayed hidden unless Shadow took a good look at the room. He had never relied on his senses as heavily as he was now. They were not sharp, sometimes even hindered him if he guessed incorrectly about the locations of the robots. That was what annoyed him the most. Nothing in this raid was certain, there was always the probability of something wrong happening.
It made his skin crawl.
Using his spindash, he stealthily went across the room, holding the gun close to his chest like it would break if he let it go. Never had he thought he would use those weapons in his life, but Shadow always lived through things he never expected. Steam exploded in his face, forcing him back as he waved it away. His foot faintly throbbed at the weight of his body, but he ignored it and assessed his surroundings to never commit that same error. In a world where his senses were as useful as G.U.N. intel, constant vigilance was the only method he knew that turned the probabilities of mistakes in his favour.
Shadow flanked himself against a doorframe, eyes shifting left and right as Eggpawns patrolled the corridor, marching in sync. Shadow counted their steps, hoping it would calm down his heart hammering out of his chest, and focused on the entrance of the main computer room. Two groups of six robots, firearms ready, left no room for even the smallest of flies, let alone for Shadow to spindash between their legs.
Shadow aimed at one of them, slowing down his breaths as he took his shot. The noise reverberated through the metallic corridor. The robot fell down unceremoniously on the ground, having no chance to bring one of its comrades down with it. He cursed under his breath, ears twitching when the familiar whir of a loading firearm crawled in his skin.
He hadn’t been quick enough. The rest of the Eggpawns sent a barrage of shots that singed his fur with just a few millimetres of distance. Acidic rain that poured towards him, never giving him a chance to dodge its entirety.
A shot hit his arm, tearing away the skin and making the surface bubble. Boiling water never nibbled like acid against his skin, but it burned all the same. The smell of blood now mixed with the oil and metal, carrying a sense of sweetness to the air that made him want to laugh. He let out a sharp cry instead and glared at the Eggpawns loading their firearms. Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes, vision slightly blurry. He covered the wound with his hand, and hissed at the burn. Gritting his teeth, his eyes darted everywhere for an opening, anything to get him out of this perilous situation.
Something blue caught the corner of his eye. With it came that familiar smell, sharp against those of blood, oil, and rust. Shadow cursed his carelessness for not noticing that smell sooner.
That blue streak bounced on every robot, knocking them down before they could load their weapons. Shadow held his wounded arm tighter, brows furrowing in thought. His eyes followed the blue ball as he continued his assault, and when there were two Eggpawns left, the ball uncurled to pose in midair. A grin wide and free illuminated his entire face in the minimal light. He spindashed into the remaining robots, rolled to his feet, and flicked his nose.
“And strike.”
Shadow grunted at the display of spectacle. He stepped away from the corner, hiding his blood-soaked glove by holding his gun.
“I had it under control.”
He almost flinched at the echo his voice carried, but locked his gaze with those cocky eyebrows. Sonic only hummed in reply, lacing his hands behind his quills.
“Yeah, yeah, and I’m the president of the United Federation. What brings you here at an Eggman’s base?”
“I could say the same to you,” his frown deepened.
Sonic laughed, light and free like the invisible breeze running through Shadow’s fur.
“Hey, if I get to destroy more of Egghead’s stupid robots, I’m in for anything.”
Shadow grunted in reply, and walked into the main computer room. He concealed his bullet wound to Sonic by making sure that blue hedgehog was on his right side at all times, placating his injured arm against his torso and ignoring the tears of blood that trailed down, matting his fur. It burned, hotter than boiling water, a fast current carrying debris to hit his arm.
Good thing that Shadow was ambidextrous. His grip on his gun tightened.
The scent of machine oil and rust slowly faded, but it would forever be in the back of his mind as the hiss of steam exploded in his ears. Blood reeked in the air. Flinching at the foul smell, Shadow knew hiding his injury from Sonic would be unrealistic, but he did not let it break his focus.
If only Sonic got the memo. He zoomed here and there, breaking Shadow’s vigilant mindset ever so slightly. His travelling smell waltzed in the air, not enough to conceal everything else but getting on Shadow’s nerves as he changed Sonic’s location mentally every time. His sneakers skidding to a halt against the metal was not helping either.
Shadow temporarily placed his firearm in his quills and opened the computer with a few clicks. Sonic’s scent suddenly became stronger, almost invading Shadow’s mind like a parasite snuggling against its host to procreate. He wrinkled his nose, showing his teeth with a small snarl, barely audible to him under the steam and fans in the room.
A sense of gratefulness washed over him as he copied Rouge’s movements whenever she was in front of an Eggman’s computer when Sonic leaned into his space, ready to break his concentration anytime.
“Don’t look so ticked off, I’ve barely done anything.”
“Your mere presence is enough to do that.”
“Ouch. That hurt, Shadow. I thought we were friends.”
Shadow had to control the urge to ball his fist, and land a punch on that face. That fake pleading look on his blue stupid face.
“Where did you get that idea?”
His eyes were concentrated on the screen in front of him, unaware of the shift in Sonic’s expression. Shadow needed information that G.U.N. would never share with him. An Eggman base was easier to raid alone than a G.U.N. base. His wound pulsed, called for his attention, his foot still throbbed, but he blinked the pain away as he started his search.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe our weekly spar could’ve clued me in to our growing friendship?”
Shadow growled and shook his head at Sonic’s statement. “Would you stop this petty debate and cover us?”
He clicked on a file that was named “Robotnik”. All the names of the documents were dated, from recently to fifty years ago, and Shadow’s eye twitched. His arm still pulsed and burned in pain, Sonic still stayed in his bubble, and he didn’t have a day to scour all of these documents. It was foolish to assume no reinforcements would come knocking on their door any minute now. But Shadow needed answers.
“Uh-huh, and how do you plan on deciphering Egghead’s files in less than a minute? You look pretty beat up.”
“Shut up,” Shadow snarled, brow twitching at that last remark. “I was getting to it.”
“You can just tell me what you’re up to, I can help.”
He wiggled a rectangular tool in his face. Shadow merely grunted, focus back on the screen.
“It’s none of your business, hedgehog.”
“Aw, c’mon, back to ‘hedgehog’? I can’t have wounded you more than that shot on your arm.”
Shadow almost slammed the keyboard, but instead glared at the blue nuisance.
“Let me handle this—”
An alarm blared in their ears, jolting Shadow out of his skin while Sonic did a brisk movement out of the corner of his eye before spindashing somewhere. Shadow felt how Sonic’s spindash brought a breeze to his fur, and he inhaled deeply at that freedom. His rival’s scent came from the door, and Shadow pulled out his gun as he approached him. Analyzing the situation was more important than files in a computer.
“Bad news,” Sonic started with a wince, “at least a dozen bots are coming our way.”
Shadow harrumphed, loaded his gun, and flanked himself behind the door frame, shielding himself from any plasma shot.
“Good news, I know the way out,” Sonic winked at him.
“Leave, I can handle things from here.”
“And miss out on all the fun? Sorry, Shadow, can’t let you get away with that.”
Sonic immediately spindashed towards the reinforcements, knocking them out one by one as Shadow could only watch. Still, he aimed at an Eggpawn that was about to shoot towards Sonic, and shot straight to its head, deactivating it. It crumbled to the ground unceremoniously, but Sonic sent him a thumbs-up and a wink before going back to smashing more Eggpawns.
Shadow could barely help him more as two robots fell from the ceiling in front of him, firearms pointed at his head as the whir of an incoming shot ricocheted in his head. He spindashed behind the giant pillar in the room, on the opposite side of the computer, and heard plasma being shot. He peeked to see the Eggpawns’ whereabouts, and was instantly greeted by the barrel of an Eggpawn’s firearm. Shadow ducked just as it fired, kicking it off balance. Its legs were heavy, and that dull pain in his foot came back full force, sharp like thunder cracking his bones. The burning scent of gunpowder itched his nose, coming from the barrel, from beside him, from above.
The Eggpawn fell over, but Shadow still shot at its chest for safe measure. Once his foot proved it could still move, he analyzed the room to find the other Eggpawn. Company joined it as they aimed at the blue blur twirling and running on the walls and ceiling. He shot at the group, hitting one Eggpawn, the smoke in the room watering his eyes as he didn’t stop shooting. Half of the reinforcements were down thanks to his firearm, but the sound of plasma shooting everywhere, the whirs of the gears, and the processing beeps buzzed in his ears.
He could barely see where Sonic rolled and spun as smoke and steam poured in the room like rainshower. It reeked of oil, sweat and blood, and the pain pulsing in his foot and locking his muscles in place trembled his hand, his good hand, from shooting accurately, like it was floating freely in water. Water didn’t stop acid from spreading; it encouraged it.
All the ruckus he caused changed the Eggpawns’ objective. Their firearms now targeted him and started their incoming barrage of shots. Shadow took cover, cursing when he realized he had one bullet left when he searched for more ammunition in his quills. He frowned when he sniffed the air again. He turned around to find Sonic grinning at him.
“You still haven’t told me your plan.”
“Drop it, hedgehog.”
“But hear me out.” Shadow glanced at him as Sonic searched for something in his quills. He pulled out that same rectangular tool he had shown Shadow earlier. “I’ll tear down this entire Eggman base if you tell me what you’re looking for in those files.”
Shadow growled under his breath. With one bullet left, he didn’t have much chance to get out of there unscathed. His eyes rested on that object in Sonic’s hand.
“Every file is in this small object?”
Sonic immediately held the object against his chest. “First, tell me what’s going on.”
A plasma shot landed near Shadow’s shoes, jolting him out of his skin. He snarled at the marred spot before looking directly into Sonic’s eyes.
“We don’t have time for such frivolities.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Do you want to die that badly?!”
“I should be asking you that,” Sonic scoffed. “Your injury there isn’t getting any better. It’s like your regeneration isn’t working.”
Shadow inhaled sharply at the remark. Ears drowned in water, his wound burned against the air, his heart throbbed at his foot, and his hand held his gun tightly, ignoring the stench of blood and sweat. Another shot aimed closely at them, on Sonic’s side, and Shadow retaliated. His hand moved on its own as he pulled the trigger, and explosions ringed in his ears. The sound blew in his ears, stinging his eyes unprotected to the liquid, the water that swallowed him whole. A gasp of pain—or a whimper—vibrated his bones as red filled his vision.
“Fuck…” was whispered through the waves.
Time froze around him, still in the current. Only the red liquid that pooled on the floor moved.
“Guess I pushed too far, heh,” said a voice beside him.
Sonic. Sonic was bleeding, and the plasma shots grew in volume and in noise. Shadow wanted to move, wanted to check if the robots had reached them, wanted to carry Sonic away from this place, but his body refused to twitch a muscle. Even his wound didn’t dare to burn. His gaze remained on Sonic’s injured leg, as the blood drooled to the floor, as red-stained gloves clutched the limb. His last bullet lay on the floor, covered in the red water, clear yet dark.
Despite contorting his face in pain, Sonic curled into a ball, and left Shadow with the puddle of blood. Sounds of robots crumbling to the ground barely reached his ears. The scent of blood overwhelmed him. Sonic’s blood. Sonic, who didn’t let him inspect the wound, who dropped out of sight, who wasn’t even shot by those stupid robots. Shadow did that. He shot him. His rival, his equal, his…
Shadow shot Sonic, and Sonic just shrugged it off as pushing too far. Memories resurfaced, and Shadow suppressed them as far as he could. He moved on, those memories did nothing to him, no longer harmed him. They were water washing up on a beach. Shadow shot Sonic, and he couldn’t let gentle waves roll over him to carry him on their bed, back in their depths that cradle him with that same mental image rolling over and over above him. Helplessly watching.
He wasn’t going to watch Sonic get swallowed by the waves.
Eventually, his body moved, and he quickly joined Sonic. His rival kneeled in the pile of destroyed Eggpawns, and gave him a glance when Shadow approached him. He let out a chuckle before collapsing. Shadow tried to catch him, but his speed didn’t manifest in his legs. He kneeled beside him, hands hovering over that gash before snapping his head at the entrance of the computer room, searching around for any danger.
Even if his instincts were toned down, his vigilance stayed sharp. It never let him down, always placed the odds in his favour, and it would not change now, not when Sonic balanced between consciousness and unconsciousness.
With the way clear for now—even if the blaring alarms put him on edge—Shadow inspected the wound with his hands, barely hearing the hisses Sonic let out whenever he got too close to the injury. Water didn’t tend to let noise travel far, the alarms coated his hearing, but that didn’t stop the wound from pouring out blood. Shadow slowly raised his injured arm, grunting at the muscles pulling on air and dragging it back to his injury, and tore his glove off his hand. Quickly, he bit at the seams and tore it far enough to wrap it around Sonic’s gash.
The advantage that humans had when showing this technique was their clothes. Shadow never felt the need to wear some, and neither seemed most other anthropomorphic animals he met. His glove was far from being sanitary enough, but it wasn’t covered in his blood. His mind replayed G.U.N.’s mandatory first aid training, and painfully tied his ripped glove, stopping the bloodflow.
Once his temporary wound care was done, he helped Sonic stand up and placed his arms around his neck, letting his limp body rest on his back. Shadow kicked on his air shoes, and ran through the hallway, to find that exit Sonic had so easily spotted.
Sonic’s warm breath tickled the back of his neck, pushing his fur away to reveal the skin underneath. Shadow held the urge to roll his eyes and let out a soft grunt instead. Of course Sonic still managed to find ways to tick him off while on the verge of death. He lightly shook his head and skated, erasing that train of thought before it could gain steam. He listed every sign of life his rival gave him: warm breath against his neck, his hands still gripping each other, the whispered grunts when Shadow turned too fast. And yet, his body felt heavier against Shadow’s shoulders, slouching even more than before. Shadow tried to quicken his pace.
Despite the alarms still going off, no Eggpawns blocked their way. Shadow only let go of his breath once they reached the forest that surrounded the base. Sonic had muttered feverish things against his quills that Shadow had paid no mind to, mostly because he was busy getting them out of the Eggman base. Mostly because his ears still drowned in water, and his chest almost heaved for oxygen.
His legs automatically brought him to his motorcycle. He nudged Sonic awake, and jerked his head towards the seat. He frowned, but let go of Shadow’s neck and limped towards the motorcycle. That gave Shadow time to get his medical supplies and finally clean Sonic’s injury.
He undid his patch-work of a bandage, painfully contorting his expression to hide his pain from Sonic. The wound on his arm rendered the task difficult, restraining his motion of dabbing the gauze to clear the excess blood as searing pain travelled his arm. Sonic kept hissing, his face scrunching up whenever Shadow applied the slightest amount of force against the injury.
The bullet most likely broke a bone in Sonic’s leg. The waves had tried to swallow him whole, but he swam against them. He swam against them as he destroyed the remaining Eggpawns. Shadow snuffed out that ray of sun peaking through the water as his injured arm held a new gauze while he applied the dressing.
He never understood his rival’s motivations.
“You can self-regenerate and yet you know how to take care of wounds,” Sonic laughed humourlessly. For someone who almost passed out, his energy rejuvenated quickly.
Shadow dreaded the conversation ahead.
“I’m the Ultimate Lifeform, I can do anything,” Shadow grunted out. He stood up once the wound was dressed to his liking, and cleaned up his space.
“Maybe I should pay you a visit whenever I’m on the brink of dying.”
Shadow turned to glare at him, hand forming a fist at the sight of his signature smirk. “You shall not.”
“Aw, Shadow, you wound me. How is a hedgehog supposed to bond in conditions like these?”
But Shadow remained silent at his remark, and sat in front of him. He revved the motor of his vehicle, and didn’t wait for Sonic to hold himself as they rolled away from the base. Sonic let out a yelp before putting his arms around Shadow’s waist. They were warm despite the shock Sonic should’ve gone through. They were warm against his fur, against the chill air.
Shadow didn’t pay much attention to it. Sonic’s warm chest resting against his back was normal, they were not cold-blooded creatures. The pool of blood around Sonic’s leg flashed back in his mind. He had managed to brush it off enough to deal with the rest of the Eggpawns. The stench of blood still hummed in the air, both from his and Sonic’s wounds. He didn’t pay much attention to his burning injury nor the cool leather under his exposed hand.
Sonic had to go back to Tails, where he would be better taken care of. Shadow wanted to know the function of the object Sonic had shown to him and Tails was the best candidate that would give him a straight answer. If it contained all the files under the name “Robotnik”, the fox would have a better chance at filtering the information inside them than he ever could as well.
It was his one and only lead. It had to come to fruition.
His own injury could wait.